Students lend a tree limb for service
Students may have noticed the new 22-foot addition to the Quad put up after a three-hour struggle Monday afternoon.
The gigantic tree is a donation by the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity as part of the Christmas Tree Lane tradition activities going on all this week.
Christmas Tree Lane is sponsored by ASUSU as a week of opportunities for students to donate to Sub for Santa through various events.
The Christmas tree on the Quad was brought by truck from Idaho last Tuesday afternoon and proved a rough start for the members of Pi Kappa Phi who spent Monday morning trying to get the tree to stand up on its own.
“We’ve had some unfortunate events,” said Abraham Eastmond, a senior in business human resource management and member of Pi Kappa Phi.
At approximately 11:45 a.m. after almost three hours of attempting to get the tree to stand up on it’s own, the large fir was almost vertical when it immediately came crashing down upon it’s innocent aides, he said.
“It was quite comical,” Eastmond said.
The Christmas tree fell directly on top of the six members of Pi Kappa Phi that were helping to put it up.
By 12:30 p.m., the tree was up and a lighting ceremony Tuesday night put the finishing touches on the arboreal entity.
“I’m just waiting to hear about the biker who rides through at night and clotheslines himself,” said Phelps.
The Christmas Tree Lane tradition continues with a display of trees in the International Lounge in the TSC.
Nicole Gibson, Christmas Tree Lane chair and member of traditions committee on ASUSU said they will have a total of 35 to 36 Christmas trees on display, each one donated by a campus club or organization.
“We asked for fake trees this year and the clubs have been amazing,” Gibson said.
Each tree is decorated by those who donated it and the finished products are given to needy families in Cache Valley through the Sub for Santa program. Gibson said they wanted fake trees so the families who received them could keep the trees for next year.
Gibson said any club on campus is welcome to donate to the project.
“We have seven trees from the [LDS] Institute. We have trees from Greek to Institute to the Service Center to Women in Medicine …”
“Every year is gets bigger and bigger. It started out four or five years ago when they had the trees in the TSC, but they didn’t really mean anything.”
Now, the event has evolved into a week-long project of service and giving to others.
Liz Lyons, member of the publicity committee at the Logan LDS Institute spent Monday afternoon decorating trees donated by the Insitute. Lyons said they had known about the Christmas tree event for a little over a month and had spent time in meetings planning for the decorations and gathering supplies.
Other events for Christmas Tree Lane include:
• Stuff the Bus all day Wednesday on Campus. All donations go to Sub for Santa.
• Holiday music, Wednesday 6-8 p.m. Sunburst Lounge, put on by the Logan LDS Institute.
• Holidays Around the World, 6-8 p.m. Thursday in the Sunburst Lounge, put on by the International Student Council.
• Guitars Unplugged, 7 p.m. Thursday in the Ballroom put on by the motarboard. $3 with student ID and $4 without. $1 off with one can of food.
• Freaky Friday, 8-10:30 a.m. on the TSC Patio – free breakfast.
• Stuff the bus at Wal-Mart, time is TBA. All donations go to Sub-4-Santa.
-etippetts@cc.usu.edu
The Christmas Tree Lane display in the TSC Sunburst Lounge showcases trees donated by USU clubs and organizations for Sub-4-Santa.